The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing flat articles, in particular, print products. The apparatus comprises a first conveying agent for conveying the flat articles in a product flow, as well as separating means for dividing the product flow into at least two partial flows.
In the print processing industry, flat articles of this type are produced in particular by gathering and collating signatures (e.g., one or more sheets ready to be encased) in a gathering and wire-stitching machine. The gathered signatures are then processed further, for example, by trimming them in a trimming apparatus and subsequently laminating them. The processing speed of the gathering and wire-stitching machine generally exceeds that of the trimming apparatus and the laminating machine. It is known from International Publication No. WO 96/32293 to divide the product flow into two partial flows to increase the capacity. This is designed to allow the time-parallel processing of two spatially separated partial flows of print products along two parallel-extending processing sections. The print products are conveyed with a conveying chain along a conveying loop section to form the partial flows. Arranged along the conveying chain are grippers which respectively grip the individual print products. After processing, the partial flows are recombined.
German Patent Application No. DE 29 17 250 A discloses an apparatus in which an overlapping flow of print products is divided into two partial flows. Two rows of grippers circulating continuously along endless paths are assigned to the edges of the overlapping flow. With this type of apparatus, the print products in the overlapping flow to be divided must be offset to the side, such that they can be gripped by the grippers.
Dividing an overlapping flow into two partial flows with the aid of grippers is also known from European Patent Application No. EP 1 431 222 A. With the disclosed apparatus, the grippers do not grip the individual print products along the edge, but rather, grip them in a central region where the individual print products are not overlapped by adjacent print products.
The respective print products in the aforementioned partial flows no longer overlap, but rather, are conveyed one behind the other. The print products in the partial flows can then be processed in a different apparatus, for example, in a trimming apparatus or a laminating machine. By dividing the product flow into two partial flows, the processing time for the print products in the partial flows can at least be doubled. A higher-quality processing is furthermore possible since more time is consequently available for the processing. As an alternative to dividing the product flow into partial flows, it is also possible to arrange the print products in intermediate buffer storage areas. In this case, the print products are arranged in an overlapping flow on rollers. Intermediate buffer storage areas of this type make it possible, for example, to operate printing machines at maximum capacity. A comparatively high expenditure is required, however, to form such intermediate buffer storage areas, as well as to arrange print products at these intermediate storage areas.